Student council plans for upcoming events
Senior student council presidents Keira Jelinek and Iliana Balok have a meeting to plan some upcoming events for the school. Student council advisor Dusty Dennis sits at the side of the meeting and makes sure that everything runs smoothly.
April 9, 2023
Student council is a large group of students who organize and host school events. There are many upcoming events that have been planned by this year’s student council that are important for others know.
For example, the leadership group meets together and plans events in a student government type of style. The most recent upcoming event is the ninth and tenth grade formal dance that will take place May 13.
The ninth and tenth grade formal is a school dance that is planned and run student council every school year. It is said to be a popular event that many students attend.
“The 9/10 formal is basically a dance that all the underclassmen go to instead of prom. It seemed to be really fun for all the kids who couldn’t go to prom [last school year],” junior John Dieterle said.
We started planning the homecoming dance back in August because we needed to find DJ’s, make sure all the social media was posted, and get parent volunteers to attend the dance. I think we actually booked the JX Venue in August too so we would have a set date and the planning takes a lot of time
— Iliana Balok
Planning dances like the ninth and tenth grade formal take a lot of time and work with administration. The student council takes their time making sure that every detail for each event is planned and ready in advance.
Senior and student council president Iliana Balok explained that the larger events “usually take at least two or three months of planning beforehand.”
Furthermore, school dances like homecoming and snoball are large events that take longer to plan. Most details for the dances were already prepared for in the start of the school year.
“We started planning the homecoming dance back in August because we needed to find DJ’s, make sure all the social media was posted, and get parent volunteers to attend the dance. I think we actually booked the JX Venue in August too so we would have a set date and the planning takes a lot of time,” Balok said.
An event that has been in the works for student council has been a Sadie Hawkins type of school dance. The Sadies dance is a school event that dates back to the 1950’s where girls would ask their dates to the dance. The event will not be taking place this school year because of timing and planning issues.
Balok described that all the logistics were kind of tricky, especially when they are adding another dance on top of everything. It ultimately came down to the timing of it all. Administration had shot down some of the plans and then we ran out of time.
However, there are other smaller, but still relevant school events coming up that are ran by student council. They have been a long running tradition and students are excited to be a part of them this school year.
Dieterle and the rest of student council are also planning a spike ball tournament, which will be sometime as soon as it’s warm enough to go out on the field.
“We have towards the end of the school year a senior sunset and I think we might do a movie night, that’s still yet to be determined,” Balok said.
All in all, student council is a large student lead group that plans school events. The goal is to provide fun school events for all students.
Freshman and student council officer Henry Corbett said he wants everyone to have a fun time at school and he feels that he could really help everyone do that [by being a part of student council].
Coming up in mid-April, there will be student council elections for next school year. There will be a week of campaigning for new student council presidents and other new members.
“Once the presidents are elected, there will be a week of campaigning for the regular representatives and everyone will vote at the end of the week,” Dieterle said.
To be a president in student council, it takes a lot of hard work and responsibility. Only two seniors are elected president per school year.
Balok explained “as a president, we run the meetings every Tuesday and we have to go to school board meetings to present updates within activities. We have to be the bridge between students and the administration.”
“If I get up to senior year I would definitely want to be a president,” Corbett added.
The many upcoming plans for student council are going to provide events for all students in hopes for them to have a fun time.
“If there are problems, people come to us and we try to address them. If they have upcoming ideas for different events, we’ll talk to Dusty to see if it’s a possibility. We’re just kind of the voice of the student population,” Balok said.
